“We might as well open up a free-standing store,” he told his wife, Rosy Garza-Zavala. That would enable them to use their long experience — 30 years each — in the retail and clothing business.

Their business, Image Avenue Clothiers, opened in March 2010 at Wonderland of the Americas mall. Image Avenue sells custom-made suits and shirts for men and women and makes gowns, including quinceañera dresses and wedding dresses.

“We are custom specialists — whether it's men's or women's clothing,” Zavala said. The store also offers alterations, helping a customer redesign an existing garment, such as adding sleeves or making a jacket to complement a dress.

“When someone tells us what they want, we'll get the fabric and make it for them,” Zavala said.

Image Avenue charges $700 to $2,500 for a custom-made suit, depending on the grade of the fabric, and $100 to $300 for a custom-made shirt.

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Alterations also are a key part of the business. “Once we had the storefront, we had women wanting us to alter their formal dresses,” Garza-Zavala said.

Most of the store's business comes from referrals. Many clients are professionals, including some San Antonio Spurs. One customer, a fan of the movie “Casino,” commissioned the couple to make suits like those worn by the picture's stars.

Paul Garcia, a real estate and sports marketing entrepreneur, first went to Image Avenue two years ago to have shirts altered. He was using several tailors at the time, “and now Phil is the only one I use,” Garcia said. “It's great service — always swift and thorough.”

Image Avenue's services aren't limited to the 9-to-5 working day.

Anne Herrera, who promotes bands and musicians, said Image Avenue altered clothing for her clients on an emergency basis just hours before they had to catch a flight out of town.

About a year after Image Avenue opened, the business moved to a nearby storefront in the mall. When Zavala approached a local bank about a loan needed to finish out the space, he was denied.

The couple had heard about Accion Texas, and they got a loan for almost $15,000 two years ago.

“If it wasn't for Accion, we probably wouldn't have gone forward with this business concept,” Zavala said.

Just before the store opened, “People told me, 'Man, you're crazy to open a business right now. The economy is bad,'” Zavala said.

Opening the store “was a scary move,” Garza-Zavala said. “My husband is the risk-taker, and I'm the more conservative one. But both of us had thought through this.”

At the time, Garza-Zavala held the contract to provide alteration services for five Burlington Coat Factory stores and she feared the contract could end. Although she has retained the contract, “I needed to make a move,” she said.

Now the store is earning revenue of about $150,000 a year, and sales are boosted by about the same amount with alteration contracts it holds with a number of Burlington and Stein Mart stores.

The store contracts with tailors, and “as soon as we get a job, we call the right person to do it for us,” Garza-Zavala said.

Even during the recession, people rummaged through their closets to get old clothes altered. More recently, the store has seen a surge from customers who've lost weight and need to have their clothes altered, Garza-Zavala said.

The growth has prompted the couple to make plans to expand from 1,200 square feet to 3,500 square feet in the mall. With the expansion, “we're going to do more retail, selling more dresses and men's ready-made suits,” Zavala said.

Zavala said he and his wife “are a partnership,” with compatible skills

As a kid growing up in McAllen, Zavala bought fabric and then begged his parents to take him across the border, where he had tailors make him shirts and pants. Garza-Zavala also has decades of experience in alterations and holds a merchandising degree from the University of the Incarnate Word.

“We were both able to extend existing services and build on that to get past the slow growth during the recession,” Zavala said. “That's why we want to open up a bigger location.”